Yoga Alliance's Yoga Day USA is coming soon - Saturday, January 23. Timed for this event, Yoga Alliance is publishing on its site the results of their 2010 Yoga Insight Survey. The survey, conducted in December 2009, was designed "to identify those factors that may be inhibiting people from beginning yoga practice." The online poll included both those who practice yoga and those who do not.
The findings suggest several misperceptions about yoga by those not familiar with the practice:
• A majority of Americans who do not currently practice yoga (57%) think that "yoga requires mantras and chanting that are about worship." And 1 in 3 (37%) believe that "yoga is a religious meditation."
• More than 2 in 5 Americans who do not practice yoga incorrectly believe the statement "you have to be flexible to do yoga."
• Three in ten are lead to believe that "yoga isn't a workout." Men (40%) are more than twice as likely as women (18%) to hold this view.
And "both Americans who practice and those who don't agree that yoga's oversight, including that of instructors, should be governed by standards set by a third party."
For a complete copy of the 2010 Yoga Insight Survey, available for download, as well as details of Yoga Day USA scheduled for January 23, go to www.yogadayusa.org.
